On day 68 of my Final Fantasy marathon, I finished Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Today, I’m starting Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster.

As with the previous games in this marathon, I’ve already unlocked all the achievements. The game opens with a view of a castle.

King Tycoon

King Tycoon approaches a wyvern snoozing on the castle roof. His daughter Lenna asks if he really has to go.

The king explains that something is wrong with the wind and he must go to the Wind Shrine to investigate.

The King flies off on the Wyvern. We see a purple haired sailor named Faris remarking that the wind just stopped.

An unnamed man standing inside some kind of cave says he must hurry. Lenna notices the wind stopped and worries for her father.

King Tycoon approaches the Wind Crystal and it shatters. The scene shifts to a nondescript young man sitting by a camp fire with a chocobo.

Meteorite

The young man and his feathery companion are startled when a meteorite crashes down nearby. I gain control of the chocobo and we go investigate the crash site.

My unnamed young man is level one freelancer. The crash site has one chest and no items.

I discover Lenna lying on the ground, surrounded by goblins, which I kill. I ask Lenna if she’s alright and she says that she is.

When she asks me my name, I get to name my character. His default name is Bartz, which may be one of the worst character names in the series.

I change his name to “Rand” to stick with my Wheel of Time theme. Rand tells Lenna that he and his chocobo go wherever the trail leads.

Lenna ponders whether the meteorite had anything to do with the wind stopping. She thanks Rand and says she must go.

Galuf

However, before she departs, we hear someone calling for help. Lenna joins the party. She is a level one Freelancer.

We find the man we saw saying he needed to hurry lying on the ground. He claims the only thing he can remember is his name, Galuf.

Lenna once again says she needs to leave. Rand asks where she is going and she says the Wind Shrine.

Galuf claims he remembers that he was also going to the Wind Shrine and declares he will go with Lenna. Rand declines to go with and Lenna and Galuf leave.

Landslides

I ride off on Boko the chocobo, until he slams on the brakes, throwing me to the ground. It seems Boko isn’t happy that I let Lenna and Galuf go off alone.

The ground begins to shake and a big hole opens behind us. We hear Lenna and Galuf cry out.

I hop back on Boko and we run, occasionally battling goblins and jumping over pits. We find Lenna and Galuf on the ground.

Rand remarks that the meteorite’s impact caused some landslides, which covered the road in rubble. He tells Lenna she won’t be able to get to Tule this way.

Lenna is determined to keep going and Rand decides he will accompany her. He says his father always wanted him to travel the world and he feels the wind is calling him.

Galuf wakes up and says that Rand just thinks Lenna is hot. He joins the party as a level one Freelancer.

Pirate Hideout

We continue on to a cave that has one chest and no items. We see a pirate activate a switch to get into a secret hideout and follow him in.

We spot a ship through a hole in the cave wall and wonder how it is sailing without wind. The Pirate Hideout has three chests and no items.

Lenna questions whether the pirates might give us a ride, but Rand thinks they’d just keelhaul us. Galuf agrees and says we’ll just have to steal their ship.

We sneak on the ship and try to sail away, but the ship won’t move. Faris shows up and says we either have a lot of brass or are lacking brains.

Lenna tells Faris she is the Princess of Tycoon, which shocks Rand and Galuf. She asks Faris to take her to the Wind Shrine to help her father.

Faris speculates that they could fetch a tasty sum for the Princess. Lenna pleads with Faris.

Faris notices Lenna’s pendant and then tells her men to lock my party in the brig. In the brig, Rand asks Lenna why she is headed to the Wind Shrine alone.

She says her father is there. Meanwhile, Faris wonders why Lenna has the same pendant as Faris does.

Journey to the Wind Shrine

The next morning, Faris orders her men to set a course for the Wind Shrine. Faris also has them untie the prisoners.

Lenna questions how the ship can move without the wind. Faris reveals that a sea creature named Syldra pulls the ship.

I gain control of the ship and tell the pirates to sail to the wind shrine. Faris joins the party as a level three Freelancer.

Wind Shrine

The Wind Shrine has four chests and no items. Inside the shrine, we find some frantic men who tell us the wind suddenly stopped and monsters overran the shrine.

They tell us the king went to the top floor and didn’t return. Faris says the crystal is on the top floor and we should go look.

I find a broadsword and a leather cap in some chests and give them to Faris. Galuf gets a staff.

We encounter a Wing Raptor guarding a door. The Wing Raptor’s gimmick is that when it closes its wings, it counters with a powerful attack.

The key to beating it is to either do nothing or use healing items and such until it opens its wings again.

We enter the crystal room and find the shards of the shattered Wind Crystal. We see the other crystals light up and send their essences.

Faris gets the essence of flame, Lenna gets the essence of water, Galuf gets the essence of earth, and Rand gets the essence of wind. We hear King Tycoon call Lenna’s name.

He appears and tells us we are the warriors of light. He says the other crystals are in danger and we must protect them.

He tells us that an evil presence is awakening and will return everything to darkness. A sinister-looking purple ring surrounds the king and he disappears.

The fragments of the crystal approach and then merge with the party. We gain access to the Knight, Monk, Blue Mage, Thief, Black Mage, and White Mage jobs.

We use a warp pad to leave the shrine. A chocobo appears to explain the game’s job system.

Jobs

Crystal fragments grant the use of the crystals’ powers in the form of jobs. By picking jobs, characters can gain special abilities.

A character’s job and abilities determine which equipment they can use. You can mix and match jobs to create characters with unique abilities.

As you win battles, you get ability points. When you get enough ability points, you learn abilities based on your job that you can then assign to your character.

Job Classes

The party has access to six jobs to start.

Knight

Knights can use daggers, light swords, heavy swords, and shields. Their stat modifiers are: Strength +23, Agility +1, Vitality +20, Magic -14

Their abilities are:

• Cover – take hits for allies
• !Guard – completely absorb a direct physical attack
• Two-handed – use both hands when wielding swords, katanas, or axes, to inflict double damage
• Equip shields – gain the ability to equip shields
• Equip armor – gain the ability to equip armor
• Equip swords – gain the ability to equip swords

Monk

Monks can’t use any equipment. Their stat modifiers are: Strength +26, Agility +1, Vitality +26, Magic -23

Their abilities are:

• !Focus – focus energies for a hit with twice the attack power
• Barehanded – gain the same attack power as monks when unarmed
• !Chakra – recover HP and cure poison and darkness
• Counter – automatically counter when hit
• HP +10% – increase max HP by 10%
• HP +20% – increase max HP by 20%
• HP +30% – increase max HP by 30%

Thief

Thieves can use knives and special. Their stat modifiers are: Strength +1, Agility +16, Vitality +2, Magic -6

Their abilities are:

• Find Passages – detect hidden passages
• !Flee – quickly escape from battle
• Sprint – hold down B to move twice as fast
• !Steal – steal treasure from an enemy
• Vigilance – prevent back attacks
• !Mug – attack and steal from an enemy
• Artful Dodger – gain the same speed and agility as a thief

White Mage

White Mages can use staves. Their stat modifiers are: Strength -7, Agility +1, Vitality +0, Magic +25

Their abilities are:

• !White – cure, libra, poisona
• !White – silence, protect, mini
• !White – cura, raise, confuse
• !White – blink, shell, esuna
• !White – curaga, reflect, berserk
• !White – arise, holy, dispel
• MP+10% – increase max MP by 10%

Black Mage

Black Mages can use knives and rods. Their stat modifiers are: Strength -9, Agility +0, Vitality -2, Magic +31

Their abilities are:

• !Black – fire, blizzard, thunder
• !Black – poison, sleep, toad
• !Black – fira, blizzara, thundara
• !Black – drain, break, bio
• !Black – firaga, blizzaga, thundara
• !Black – flare, death, osmose
• MP+30% – increase max MP by 30%

Blue Mage

Blue Mages can use knives, light swords, rods, and shields. Their stat modifiers are: Strength -8, Agility +1, Vitality +3, Magic +23

Their abilities are:

• !Check – check an enemy’s HP
• Learning – learn some monsters’ special attacks
• !Blue – perform blue magic
• !Scan – see enemy’s level, HP, weakness, and current condition

Career path

I chose jobs based mostly on the stats of the characters. I made Rand a Knight. Lenna became a Black Mage.

Faris became a White Mage. Galuf became a Thief. We sailed back to the pirate hideout and discovered Boko’s footprints.

Return to Pirate Hideout

We found Boko resting in a bed in the hideout. The pirates found him injured in the cave and brought him in to take care of him.

After looting the chests that were previously guarded by pirates, we sailed on to the town of Tule. Tule has three chests and eight items.

Tule

Shortly after entering Tule, Faris and the rest of the pirates head to the pub. I discover the house where an acquaintance of the princess lives.

Lenna tells us that Zok buildt the Torna Canal. We go inside and Lenna asks Zok for the key to the canal.

Zok claims that he lost it. He adds that the canal is much too dangerous, since a beast has made the canal its lair since the wind crystal was destroyed.

We spend the night at Zok’s house. Rand wakes up and remembers that his father told his mother than the crystals must be protected at any cost.

Rand’s father also instructed her not to tell Rand about the crystals if anything happened to him. Zok asks Rand what is wrong and Rand says he was just thinking about his dead parents.

Zok gives Rand the canal key and tells him he can open the gate to travel to Walse. Zok explains that he hid the key because he was worried for Lenna’s safety.

He asks Rand to keep Lenna safe. We loot the town and purchase some spells at the shop.

We stop by the pub and Rand and Galuf get a glimpse of Faris, causing them to question their sexuality. Faris tells them to get lost and locks the door to his room.

When we leave town, Faris catches us up and tells the rest of the pirates to go back and guard the hideout. They object, but eventually give in.

Journey to Walse

Back on the ship, Lenna is fretting over the impact the dying crystals may have on the world. She tells Rand that if they fail to protect the other three crystals, the world will become unlivable.

The party gathers and declares its commitment to save the crystals. We sail to the Torna Canal.

A monster attacks the ship, creating a giant whirlpool. The Karlabos looks a bit like a giant deformed lobster.

We defeat it easily, with Lenna’s thunder spells being the primary weapon. Unfortunately, the whirlpool pulls Syldra under, leaving the ship to drift.

Lenna attempts to console Faris, telling him that surely Syldra is still alive somewhere. The ship drifts into the graveyard of the sea.

Ship Graveyard

The ship graveyard has eight chests and no items. When we stop to rest, Galuf and Rand try to coerce Faris into changing out of his wet clothes and discover he is actually a woman.

They question why he would pretend otherwise, and Faris asks if they would want to be the only girl on a ship full of pirates? We proceed through the graveyard and I find a Flail, which I give to Faris.

When we reach the exit, Rand’s mother appears and calls him over. King Tycoon does the same with Lenna, and Faris joins her.

Galuf’s granddaughter shows up, but he doesn’t remember her. Their fake parents attempt to eat the souls of Lenna, Faris, and Rand.

A Siren appears and remarks that she is surprised that Galuf escaped her magic. She says she’ll let him live if he just runs off quietly.

Galuf refuses and gets the rest of the party to snap out of their trance. The Siren attacks.

After she becomes undead, Faris and Lenna’s magic become our primary weapons. We take her out easily.

Rand thanks Galuf for saving their lives. I give Rand the bronze shield we got from winning the boss fight.

Once I exited the graveyard, I saved on the overworld map and quit for the night.